'Lauding Mumbai's spirit not enough'

India needs to learn from other nations facing the brunt of terror, say surfers.

Terrorism is here to scare India for many more years. We need to tackle it and do it fast. Be proactive, get vigilant, build relations with others facing similar situations, put technology to optimum use... do whatever, but act. And finally, don't blame government and system for all ills. Let's sit up and get counted.

That's what the surfers say in the wake of Mumbai train blasts. Not to discount the anger against the perpetrators of the crime and sympathy for the victims.

Here's how it went.

The hapless citizen...

"The serial bomb blasts in Mumbai is now a routine thing for the defenceless citizen. Government is busy ensuring fast bus services to Pakistan to ferry terrorists and claiming peace process to be on the right track. After every blast (whether in Delhi or Mumbai) we get lip service from Government, high alerts and few lakhs are distributed and the government's work ends there," said Rajiv of New Delhi.

Rajesh from New Delhi too echoed similar sentiments.

"One more reminder to all of us in the metropolis that we are totally unsafe."

Danendra Jain of Hazaribagh in India pointed out how hollow politicians in our country are.

"I would like to know the meaning of red alert and high alert. Each time a blast occurs government says that they have declared red alert but such incidents occur every year...every month in some corner of the country. Obviously there is practically no control over terrorists. No innovative measures are taken.

Politicians always claim a lot of things - call the enemy for dialogue, start train and bus services for Pakistan, extend innumerable facilities to Pakistan, release arrested terrorists in the name of peace, but there is no visible change in the attitude of Pakistanis or the terrorists."

Resilience of Mumbaikars great, but ...

Mumbai's Mahendra Patel put it in a rather succinct manner.

"We feel proud to hear the stories of heroism shown by Mumbaikars when they reach out and help each other. But there is difference between a natural calamity, an accident and a terrorist act. This is an attack from outside and which cannot be 100 per cent an outsiders' act.

The spirit of Mumbaikars should not be taken for granted by the politicians who think that Rs 5 lakh and a job will gloss over the situation.

There should be fast track court proceedings and sentencing. Big names in film and business are able to escape or delay the punishments."

Don't blame the system, government, whatever... change it

"My condolences are with the families of India. I am shocked to read this sad news on the internet. This is a barbaric act and must be condemned by all sections. It's not only the responsibility of the government, now its time that people should unite and organise to act against the terrorist network," said Ajay Sharma from Mexico city.

Jital Patel from Wichita, USA said accusing UPA or NDA will lead us nowhere.

"Stop blaming government every time there is a terrorist attack. This is an intelligence failure and the government needs to rectify that. People of India must unite to tackle this menace of terrorism. "It does not matter who is governing India: UPA or NDA, the government alone can't prevent terrorism," he said.

Sit up, get counted, learn from others…

Atul Saxena from New York, USA said this was the right time to put technology to use. No room for soft policies with neighbours.

"I request the Indian government to punish those nations who were involved in these blasts. We should deploy more military in J&K to protect our own people. Besides that, we should pursue declaring Pakistan as 'terrorist state', they have both history of spreading terrorism as well as nuclear proliferation.

We need to be more pro-active in every approach and deploy hidden cameras in every compartment of train, buses, subways, airport, etc. linked with satellite and monitored constantly by IT centre pro-active group. Now, it is required as we are going to use nuclear energy for civilian use."

Joseph from Pune in India said we should get help from friendly countries.

"We need to be proactive rather than reactive. We wait for something to happen and then try ways to improve the systems. Rather we should use our good relationship with friendly countries Israel, US and UK and gain the knowledge on latest technologies and keep ourselves abreast with fields especially security which can cripple the nation."

Dev from Delhi said, "Death penalty should be awarded to all terrorists arrested. 2, 5 or 7 years jail is not quite helpful. The execution should be quick and not linger on for years. Any anti-national activity should be taken up by a special fast track court and decisive actions taken immediately."

"We Indians are very soft and have the patience to endure and this has been noticed for years now. Israel goes to protect even one soldier. We should learn from them," said Omkar K Dutt of New Delhi.

KS Rathore said citizen groups would have to come forward to tackle this problem. Defence committees in localities could be of help.

"Mumbai is a very big and fast moving city where police and IB alone can't search the terrorists. It is better to have area-wise defence committees and all the up-to-date information should be sourced with regard to persons living on rent.

No person should be allowed without prior approval of defence committees who should ensure proper police verification as well. These committees should be appointed all over the country and a website containing contact details of concerned persons be developed for cross-checking by these committees. Defence committee can ensure that no unidentified person is living in their area and also will ensure what that personnel are doing i.e. job or business with proper records from the employee or work location."

Stay calm

"What has happened is really very bad. My sympathy to all the family members who had died in these blasts. Inshallah, there is law and the culprits will be punished," said Anees Ali from Kuwait city.

Sirish from India insisted terrorist rarely sought to differentiate between a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or whoever.

"Mumbai blasts are horrific and deplorable. Killing of innocent human beings cannot be justified on any grounds. I pray to God for the departed souls and their grieving families. The cowards who did this evil task do not deserve to be called humans. A bomb cannot distinguish a Hindu or Muslim and that is what has been proved yet again.

I am sure we all will stand united to fight and win over the evil enemy of mankind. Unfortunately, most of the political parties and the religious institutions in our country may only try to aggravate the situation by flaring up communal frenzy.

I hope Indians don't fall pray."

Inshallah!

DisclaimerAll views and opinions presented in this article are solely those of the surfers and do not necessarily represent those of HindustanTimes.com.